MAREK: CSKA CAN REPEAT CZECH TEAM’S SUCCESS

Ahead of the new KHL season’s kick-off sport press keeps on making interviews with the league’s stars. One of the best foreigners in history of the league, the World champions-2010, Jan Marek, who swapped Metallurg Magnitogorsk for CSKA this summer, shares his expectations from the new season with the readers today.


"I had other offers besides CSKA in summer, but I needed new experience and my move to CSKA is a perfect challenge for me", Marek said. "Having talked to the head coach Sergey Nemchinov I understood that his team is interested in my services, and I liked it so much that I though only about their offer".

"CSKA can boast glorious history of the clubs and their rich victorious traditions. And what is more important is that my family approved my choice, that is why my agent and I decided to accept the Army men’s offer and sign a contract with this club".

"When I was a boy I was aware that CSKA is a great club which gathered the best players in the world. I liked this team, which sealed so many victories, but I couldn’t even imagine that I would wear a sweater with CSKA emblem some day. I am very happy that I play in the club with rich history".

"I cannot judge whether I am leader or not, but I like that CSKA management considers me to become one of the team’s leaders. I get much playing practice, that I used to get in Magnitogorsk and Czech national team, and I am hopeful that my career in Moscow club will be successful".

"I got injured during pre-season preparations, but I think that I have fully recovered. In any case it didn’t bother me during the Mayor Cup games. In general I think that this injury didn’t harm my pre-season trainings, because I began preparations when I was on holidays, but I haven’t reached my peak form yet".

"I used to be Metallurg’s leader in my first years in the team, but several specialists believe that the previous season was not the best one for me, however I don’t agree with this statement. To my mind I played all three seasons in Magnitogorsk on very high level and I always earned points".

"I don’t know why somebody didn’t like my display last year. Metallurg really didn’t fulfill the main task and people blamed the team’s leaders, including me. It offended me, but I don’t share this point of view".

"There is nothing impossible and HC MVD and Czech team proved it last season. Russia had perfect team at the World Championship in Germany, while we had only three NHLers in the squad and we won the champions’ title, not Russia".

"CSKA is also able to fight for Gagarin Cup this season. I like my current friendly team, and it’s important that all players should believe in success. If it happens, CSKA could perform well".

"I don’t know which teams will become the season’s favourites, because I saw several teams just several times or didn’t see at all. Let’s wait until the start of the championship, watch the first games and return to this issue after that. And I think we shouldn’t pay much attention to our opponents, as we need to work hard during our trainings and achieve positive result".

"I didn’t expect that I would be appointed as the team’s vice-captain and I won’t hide that it made me happy. I will try to prove by my performance that I will cope with responsibility".

BARULIN CAN RETURN TO ATLANT

The 25-year old goalkeeper Konstantin Barulin who played last two years in CSKA can return to Atlant.


The Moscow region club is ready to swap for Barulin the CSKA drafted defender Shestopalov.

According to the sports director of Atlant Ravil Iskhakov he had a conversation with the general manager of CSKA Sergey Nemchinov and they were close to agreement. At the same time CSKA calls this agreement quite unlikely.

TIKHONOV: CSKA LACKS EXPERIENCE

On Saturday HC CSKA became the first club to slip out of Gagarin Cup play-off series, by losing to HC MVD in three matches. Legendary Russian coach and CSKA honorary president Viktor Tikhonov summarized results of the series.


"The team prepared for the season perfectly and demonstrated good hockey and result at the beginning of the championship", Tikhonov told Sport Express. "But later CSKA just lacked experience, that was the first reason of the club’s failure in play-offs".

"Players’ inexperience made them make unnecessary mistakes. They were too emotional".

"The second reason is insufficient experience of the head coach Sergey Nemchinov, who worked his first season independently. I suppose that our opponents’ head coach fully outplayed Nemchinov in the series against HC MVD".

"Several misfortunes settled uncertainty in our players and they became confused. And again it is caused by lack of experience".

"I am sure that coaches’ decision to part with Schastlivy and Kulyash was wrong. In any case I wouldn’t have parted with these players. I agree that Kulyash has very difficult character, but it was necessary to work with him, because I don’t see any best players in the team now".

"Everybody was afraid of Kulyash’s strike and after his quit CSKA had problems of realization of powerplay. When there are so many suspensions, you can make result on powerplay".

"I know that Nemchinov conducts many theoretical exercises, but theory cannot replace practice and team’s discipline leaves much to be desired in this case, because players don’t have skills which are worked out during trainings".

"I see brilliant future for CSKA. Coaches can work with their youngsters, who are very ambitious. The only thing I would do is to add several top-level forwards, since young players cannot lead the team for the whole season. And of course the team needs another captain".

"My attitude to foreigners is negative, because with their arrival to our hockey we stopped developing our reserves in all clubs".

KULYASH MOVED TO AVANGARD OMSK

HC CSKA exchanged defenseman Denis Kulyash to Avangard to acquire Filipp Metlyuk and Evgeniy Kurbatov.


"Sergey Nemchinov said that he needs younger player, while I am considered a veteran at 26", said Kulyash. "But I have no grudges to CSKA. I will remember that I became a real hockey player in this team and found many friends there. It’s a pity that I didn’t manage to win medals with CSKA, but I will try to do it with Avangard".

"I am ashamed with years spent in CSKA. I think I did everything possible to help the team play as good as possible. I believe that club management doesn’t have any claims to my work".

Sergey Nemchinov also commented on Kulyash’s move to CSKA yesterday.

"It’s not a secret that Kulyash is attacking defenseman, while we need defenseman, who is concentrated on defence", said CSKA head coach. "We think that Filipp Metlyuk fully corresponds to our requirements".

"He is an experienced player, who won the Russian medals twice with Lada. That is why we exchanged Kulyash to Avangard".

"Metlyuk will debut in CSKA in the next match in St. Petersburg".

SIMAKOV SUSPENDED FOR TWO YEARS

Former forward of HC CSKA Alexey Simakov has picked two-year suspension in the Kontinental Hockey League structure.


Yesterday the Control and Disciplinary Committee of KHL tried the case of the former forward of CSKA Alexey Simakov and his former club. As the result the forward has been suspended for two years in KHL.

The chairman of KHL Control and Disciplinary Committee Vladimir Saraev commented on reasons of the player’s suspension.

"Conflict of Simakov with the club began when the player had status of CSKA player", explained Saraev. "Simakov was not satisfied that sum of his contract had been reduced in accordance with procedure of redraft".

"CSKA did everything possible to help Simakov continue playing hockey, for example the club didn’t use their right to dismiss the player for his absences".

"We thought that this conflict had been settled after Simakov moved to the other club. And suddenly after two months of playing in Avtomobilist he presented his claim to CSKA again".

"Simakov wanted CSKA to pay off the debt, that is illegal attempt to earn money. The player parted with CSKA in accordance to the rules and he had no right to demand anything from his former team".

"Forward’s desire to ignore regulations was the main reason of his suspension. While making this decision, we took into consideration circumstances of this case".

"Firstly this player violated regulations, secondly we have been trying to settle this conflict since July, while Simakov didn’t want to make compromise".

"And finally we are aware of player’s absences as well as abuse of player’s rights from the side of Simakov and his agents".

FETISOV SIGNED CONTRACT WITH CSKA

CSKA president Vyacheslav Fetisov signed a provisional contract with the Moscow club.


The 51-year-old hockey legend passed his medical and signed a contract with CSKA until the end of the season. He has already been a part of the CSKA in the KHL game against SKA.

"To my mind it’s very important that our young players will get a unique opportunity to play with legend of the world hockey", said CSKA head coach Sergey Nemchinov.

"His contract will run until the end of the season so we will want Fetisov in other matches too".

Way to go, Slava!

Former Red Wings defenseman and Russian hero Slava Fetisov is making a comeback in a Kontinental Hockey League game this evening. He's gonna play for CSKA Moscow tonight against first-place SKA.

That's the same age Gordie Howe was when he last played in the NHL, in 1979-80 with the Hartford Whalers. Cheli, who's with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL, is a mere 47.

And Slava's still a double-threat: He's listed on the CSKA roster as a defenseman and team president.

For the record, he's just a temp on the defense. President Fetisov is filling in because the team has injury problems.

"We urgently need one more defender," coach Sergei Nemchinov said. "Fetisov practices constantly and has agreed to help the team."

Fetisov played for CSKA for a decade, starting in 1978, before jumping to the NHL. He retired in 1998 at age 40.

And the way Wings injuries are mounting up, maybe they should keep his number handy, too.
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There're some of today's comments on this story from all over the World down here:


- That's so cool! Most men are happy when they can digest red meat at 51!

- That's cool! In his prime, he was as good of a D as Bourque or Lidstrom.

- He won’t be the same as he use to be in the 80's and 90's but I'm happy he's playing again.

- That’s the great news. One of the greatest player ever on the ice. Fill a little envy to Russians.

- Would love to be able to watch the game. I doubt he could still throw it at the pace of todays game and his age considered, but man it would be nice to watch him throw another one of his patented hip checks out there again. Nobody I have ever watched could do it better than Fetisov used to in his time.

- Awesome! Fetisov helped a lot of russian players settle here in the U.S. and was the go to guy who could "correct" russian mafia threats to players and their families. Classy dude. Go Fetisov!

- WOW what a great story, Fetisov is an iron defenseman and, despite being a Bruins fan, I loved watching him play with the Red Wings.
Good luck, Slava, I'll try and catch some of your games on the KHL official site (KHL.ru), which shows next-day online broadcasts of some truly great hockey. Plus, it's the only way you'll see some all time greats like Jaromir Jagr and Alexei Yashin.

FILATOV: NEW ICON OF THE RUSSIAN HOCKEY

HC CSKA forward Nikita Filatov was voted the best rookie of the week by the Kontinental Hockey League.


The Russian youngster Nikita Filatov, age 19, stands best chances to become a new icon of the Russian hockey. The Russian national team’s squad for the Sochi-2014 Olympics will be made by such rising stars, and of course KHL clubs will follow CSKA’s example and will trust their youngsters more.

Having returned to CSKA from NHL Filatov made fantastic debut – 9 points in 5 games!

"When I came back to Russia I didn’t think about records and awards, as I just missed hockey, more playing time and good partners", Nikita told Sport Express. "Now I have everything I want and it’s great that I am very effective and helpful to my team".

"My partner Albert Leschev is a great player. Before going to the ice we agree with him how we should play in particular situation and it works out and it’s fantastic".

"Now I don’t think about the next season at all. I am satisfied with my current job, my clubmates and playing time. I don’t think about my return to NHL too".

"Of course I would like to have more time for rest between the matches, but I don’t feel tiredness".

"Russian youth team’s head coach Vladimir Plyuschev didn’t contact me, but if I get invitation to the national side I will surely come there and help. My dream is to become the world champion and I will have enough strength to put it into reality".

"Filatov’s performance didn’t surprise me at all, admitted CSKA head coach Sergey Nemchinov. We hoped that Nikita would score in our club and we trusted him. He played brilliantly in Columbus when coaches let him play".

"Hockey in NHL is an absolutely different game, with less space on the ice and more powerful hockey. But Nikita wanted to leave Russia, he grew up in the North America and learnt a lot there. Comparing with the last youth World championship he made progress".

"He is young and he has very important advantage as he can return to full fitness quicker than others, even when we have very fierce match schedule".

"Nikita is very talented player, but he is not Kovalchuk or Ovechkin. He is Filatov with his own unique tricks".

"If he goes to the youth Word championship, his absence would be a big loss for us, but we understand that he can help our national team".

FILATOV HELPED CSKA WIN IN MAGNITOGORSK

CSKA newcomer Nikita Filatov led his club to the second consecutive away victory by scoring twice against Metallurg Magnitogorsk.


The 19-year-old former forward of Columbus collected three goals for CSKA after his return to the Moscow club.

"Let’s see what will happen in Ekaterinburg because that away match will be very tough", said Filatov. "I don’t know about my teammates, but I am getting tired since away matches are very exhausting".

"I wouldn’t say that Metallurg played awfully, as we just had perfect mindset for the game. Our competitors also created scoring chances, but they didn’t convert them into goals. Maybe it was not their best day".

"CSKA hasn’t won in Magnitogorsk during 15 years and of course it’s pleasant that I helped my team end this unsuccessful series , but this game is over and we need to prepare for the next one".

FILATOV: CSKA IS MY HOME TEAM

One of the most outstanding newcomers of the ongoing KHL season Nikita Filatov fired in the winning goal and added two assists for CSKA in the match against Traktor in his debut match for the Army club.


"I didn’t expect something like that to happen in my debut match for CSKA after my comeback to the team", said Filatov to journalists after the game. "I wanted to play as good as possible, but I didn’t dream about scoring in my first match for CSKA".

"Several clubs were interested in me, but I didn’t even think about playing in the other team besides CSKA, as it was the best variants for me".

"Moscow is my native city and CSKA is my home team, where I had been playing for 12 years. I knew that it would be easier to adapt there and I was sure that I would play well in this club".

"I feel like I have been playing there from the start of the season. In general I don’t see anything strange in it, because I know my team-mates well".